Weekly Support Recap – Comparison Chart Extension

Want to simplify your work with Our Comparison Chart component? Find out the most popular questions the users ask about this extension in the list below. The information can really save your time and point out the options you haven’t used yet. The solutions are kindly provided by Maria Barbarchik, JoomPlace Support Manager.

Top 7 Things You Should Know about the Comparison Chart

How do I insert a chart into article?

To insert a chart into any content, use the tag {moschart id=3}, where '3' is the chart ID. You can see it in the ID column of the chart list in Joomla admin area. Remember to install and enable the plugin plg_content_comparisonchart.zip before using the aforementioned tag.

How do I change the language?

If you want to simply change names of options, open the file “en-GB.com_comparisonchart.ini” in the folder _SITE_ROOT_\administrator\language\en-GB\, modify it and save the changes.

If you want to translate the names of options, find the file “en-GB.com_comparisonchart.ini” in the _SITE_ROOT_\administrator\language\en-GB\ folder, copy it to the folder with the language installed on your website, change the file name accordingly, e.g. pt-BR.com_comparisonchart.ini for Portuguese-Brazil language, modify the file and save the changes.

Mind that in some cases you don’t have to manually translate the file. You might want to check out the translations page first. All translations might already be there. If you want to use these files, download them and upload into folders specified next to the files on the aforementioned page.

Where do I enable the button for removing unnecessary items it?

To enable the button, go to Joomla admin area. Open Components – Comparison Chart – Management – Templates. Click the name of a template you are using and select an icon for the Hide Button Image option.

Can my users contribute to comparisons on my site?

Front end authoring is not available for the Joomla! 2.5-based version. However, the Joomla! 1.5-version allows users to add information to your chart through user interface.

I want to cross compare items of different brands, e.g. various Nokia and Samsung mobiles. How do I go about doing it?

The Categories menu of the Comparison Chart component is just what you need. First of all, you should make a categories tree, i.e. categories and subcategories. Then, create a chart and chart items assigning them to respective category (-ies). Note that user cannot compare items from different charts, i.e. they should all belong to the same chart.

The last step is to select Chart Items as menu item type when assigning the component to Joomla! menu item.

Instead of having the products in the columns how can I have them as rows? I have a lot of products with few characteristics.

The default functionality allows setting up only one layout, i.e. items as columns (on top of chart) and properties as rows.

Is it possible to insert HTML code into chart cells?

Yes, it is. However, note that in properties section html can be inserted into the Comments field only.